The 2026 MLB season is still months away, but that's not stopping some writer's to make their predictions for the upcoming campaign. Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com recently posted his predictions on who he thinks will win the season awards, naming Yoshinobu Yamamoto his pick for the NL Cy Young. However, there is a bit of a Paul Skenes twist.
Although Castrovince picked the Los Angeles Dodgers' ace as his NL Cy Young Award winner for next season, he does admit that Skenes is essentially unstoppable and will likely be a heavy consideration for the highly-coveted award once again after winning it in 2025.
“There's probably no stopping Skenes, whose 1.96 ERA from 2024-25 was the best in MLB … by 34 points! But fake rules are fake rules,” said Castrovince. “So let’s go with the reigning World Series MVP, who might be a risky pick after logging 17 2/3 innings in the span of a week in that Series.
“The Dodgers are also deep enough in the rotation (if healthy) to play the load management game, and that might leave Yamamoto short on Cy Young-caliber innings. But this guy’s preparation is second to none, and the more comfortable he's gotten in MLB, the better the results have been. His 2.74 expected ERA last season trailed only that of Skenes (2.63) and Skubal (2.71), so he was definitely in Cy company.”
Yoshinobu Yamamoto proved to be one of the most reliable starting pitchers in baseball during the Dodgers' World Series run. Playing 17.2 innings in seven games in the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays is no easy feat. But he made it look normal, helping the Dodgers win their third championship in five years.
The 27-year-old pitcher will be viewed as one of the best in the league once again, right there alongside Paul Skenes. Especially after Yamamoto ended the 2025 campaign with a 2.49 ERA and 0.990 WHIP while recording 201 strikeoutsthrough 173.2 innings pitched.
